


In Perpetuum (being rewritten i'm so sorry y'all)

by orphan_account



Category: The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild
Genre: Also summaries are hard, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Background Relationships, Canon Compliant, Fights, Gen, HAHA that didn't age well i'm just gonna update when i get out new chapters, Implied Relationships, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Role Reversal, Shapeshifting, Sort Of, Tags Are Hard, Tags Contain Spoilers, Video Game Mechanics, Zelda is the hero, it's up to the reader ig, plot armor, pls i am just weak 4 zelda and made her the hero.., updates weekly
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-02-10
Updated: 2020-06-16
Packaged: 2021-02-27 23:29:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 9,246
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22644136
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: in· per·pe·tuum. adverb: to be ongoing or last forever.-"And the appointed knight, tasked with protecting the princess… It was told that he fell that same day while defending her with his life; but the princess survived, and has spent the last one hundred years locked in battle with Calamity Ganon in the Castle, using her sacred powers to hold him at bay. So it was said, but sometimes tales can be wrong."Or: In which a girl wakes up in a shrine.
Relationships: Daruk & Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Link & Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Mipha & Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Prince Sidon & Zelda, Revali & Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Riju & Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Teba & Zelda, Urbosa & Zelda (Legend of Zelda), Yunobo & Zelda
Kudos: 42





	1. Resurrection

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which she wakes up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello and welcome!! thank you so much for giving me a chance! uhh so basically this story's about zelda being the hero of the prophecy which is kinda fun ngl  
> yes, i'm aware that i am.. three entire years late to the game, literally and figuratively. don't even WORRY about it  
> but uh, fair warning: i get. really long-winded when i'm writing, so please let me know— gently so i do not cry— if it gets too boring so that i can adjust how i write accordingly :D  
> the great plateau will feel... a little long, though. i went a little cwazy

**SHE WAS IN LIMBO** , slipping in and out of a thin stream of consciousness as she laid in a tomb made of liquid. She floated there for a moment, unsure of whether she was even alive or if everything was just a dream. She could feel something, though, and it was pulling her out of her long stupor, tugging at her chest— it was so jarring that she couldn’t help but wake with a start.

Looking around, she could see that she was surrounded by blue. She couldn’t feel her hands, and her head was spinning as she took in the bright glow filling up the otherwise dark enclosure she sat in. Groaning, she shielded her eyes with her hand to let them adjust after so long— how long, though?— with no light. With a shaky arm, she hoisted herself up and out of the small pod that had hosted her during her long sleep and tried to stand on her feet; unfortunately, though, she seemed to not be used to walking, and her muscles screamed in protest as her knees buckled underneath her and she crashed to the floor.

She sat there for a while, panting and trying to find her bearings. She asked herself frantic questions as she stayed there on the ground: Who was she? Where was she? Why was she there? What had happened to get her there, and how? Yet, no matter how many times she mulled over those questions, she still had no idea. She was drawing one massive blank, and it scared her. She tried to make sense of this lack of knowledge and could only come up with one idea. Perhaps…

Perhaps today was her first day? She didn’t have any memories before this, and she didn’t know anything about herself, so it made sense, but she still felt as though it was the wrong assumption. If not that, though, then what? A familiar feeling settled in her gut; it felt as though something was eating away at her lungs, and the familiarity of it caused it to start rising to her throat. Why did something she had never experienced before feel so familiar?

A sudden fierce tug pulled her out of her frantic thinking, and she jumped as it guided her to stand. Her legs held her up this time, and as she took cautious steps in the direction she was being pulled, she found memories in her muscles that didn’t yet exist in her brain. By the time she reached an ornate glowing pedestal that resided on one end of the enclosure, her legs no longer shook. Even if they did, she wouldn’t have noticed, though; the pull in her chest became so strong at that point that she was physically moved forward by its force.

With a little yelp, her body collided with the hip-height ridge of the slanted pedestal and she gripped the cold and smooth surface with both hands. As the pedestal began whirring, the tug let up— it seemed almost apologetic, with how it slowly backed off and how it left a warm feeling in her chest— and she was able to straighten her back and let go of it. She watched in awe as the center of the pedestal lifted, and then it let out a small series of soft clicks as a glowing orange slab popped out of a niche to offer itself to her. A soft pull in her fingertips incited her to pluck it from its stand, and it let out a short chime as an eye with a single dripping tear blinked to life on its smooth inner surface. As that happened, a section of the wall in front of her lifted itself up and she jumped in surprise. Looking down at the slab, she marvelled at the thought of just what it could do; it glowed faintly— blue, just like everything else in her dark enclosure— and a different pull in her gut convinced her to hook it to the strap of her underwear.

…

Ah. Her underwear.

All of the sensations she had been exposed to so suddenly had caused her to completely overlook her perpetual near-nakedness, and she felt goosebumps tingle her arms as it fully registered in her brain that she was indeed standing in her undergarments and nothing else. Some small part of her in the back of her mind was screaming at her over this, crying that no,  _ no _ , this is wrong! You must be proper! Pushing that part of her to the furthest reaches of her empty mind, she flushed bright red— not that she would have noticed, though— and decided to set out and find something to wear. With that in mind, she trudged out of the enclosure through the newly opened door.

Looking through the dark blue hallway she found herself in, she spotted a set of chests laying about; fortune was on her side, clearly. Hoping for the best, she knelt down and unlocked the first one, finding a ratty old blouse inside. Better than nothing, she supposed. Moving on to the next chest, she found a pair of light brown trousers in a similar condition. Satisfied at having found a somewhat suitable set of clothing, she took a moment to slip them on before continuing on her way. Now that clothes were out of her mind, she’d need to find a way out.

At the very end of the hallway, the blue glow of the dark enclosure faded to give way to a more natural earthy brown hue. Looking to her left, she spied some boxes stacked on the wall, but no way out. In front of her, though, was another pedestal that wasn’t quite as ornate as that in the enclosure; instead, it reached her hip and glowed faint orange. Beyond it, there was a sleek grey wall with markings that she almost knew, but couldn’t quite place a finger on. She wasn’t too sure what to do at first, so after a moment of her hesitation, the tugging at her chest returned, drawing her forward to the pedestal. When the sensation started pulling at her hands again, she understood what it wanted and didn’t hesitate to pull out the glowing slab. The tugging became intense at that point, as though it was urgent, and maybe it was. Whatever— or whoever— it was, it needed her to do something, and she wasn’t sure if she was ready to figure out what. Despite that, she placed the slab gently atop the pedestal and then watched in awe as the wall retracted upwards, similarly to how it had earlier on back in the enclosure. A steady stream of daylight filtered into the dark hallway, and she knew that just there, just beyond a set of stairs, was the outside world. She didn’t know how she knew, but a dangerous yet beautiful world was waiting just outside for her to re-discover. Not discover, no… She needed to remind herself of it.

Suddenly, there was a sharp tug in her head, causing her to lift a cautious hand to feel for injuries— but then a voice, rough from disuse, rang through her head. Somehow, she knew she had heard that voice before and knew that it— no,  _ he _ — was behind that feeling back in the enclosure.

_ … el… -a? … -da? … an you hear me? I’m surprised I can talk to you, or at all really. Just know… You may not remember everything now, not after sleeping for one hundred years, but in time things will come back to you. I know they will. I have faith in you, and faith that you can save Hyrule! But… Do you have faith in yourself? _

And with that, the voice faded into nothing. She had a feeling that she wouldn’t be hearing him much in the future; maybe every now and then, but rarely for long and few and far between.

However, she knew that he would likely still remain; she was reminded of this fact as the pulling sensation that she had begun to become accustomed to started gently guiding her out of the gaping entrance. And so, with a lump in her throat and a buzzing in her head, she climbed the stairs, followed by a short cut-off dirt cliff and another set of stairs. For a moment, she felt as though time had stopped, and she did nothing for a moment but stare at the blinding arch in front of her.

And then, with one final breath, she took a step into the light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm thinking of updating once a week on sundays, so see you next week! sorry if that seems really slow lkmdfkms i'll pick up the pace once i have more chapters backloaded,, but believe it or not, this is one of the shortest chapters i have written so far lkdfskdjf


	2. The Isolated Plateau

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which freedom is not black and white.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hello, welcome to chapter two! honestly, it was so difficult to not jump the gun and post this the very next day, but i need to practice restraint so i waited most of the week... not all of it though, so uh you're welcome if you were looking forward to this?? is anyone even reading this lol  
> this chapter (and most of the great plateau ngl) is a bit of a doozy, and there's some sort of irony to it, but you'll have to read further to see what i mean ((but if you know anything about botw, which i can assume you do, then you'll already know what's up))

**THE LIGHT WAS BLINDING** , but to her, it felt like something had shifted gently into place, filling part of a void that she hadn’t even realized was there. Letting out a joyous laugh, she ran to a cliff that jutted out from the rest of the outcrop she found herself on, gazing out at a land that felt both dear to her heart and completely foreign. The wind tousled her hair— which, looking at it in this light, she noticed was very long and a fair blond— and her blouse, lifting an oppressive weight off her chest. She felt breathless as she caught sight of sprawling forests, rolling hills, a volcano that spewed a dark plume of smoke into the sky, a mountain range that continued endlessly, and a castle… A castle that…

A castle that caused a sharp pique of fear to prick straight through her heart, pausing her breath and making her shudder in place. A sudden chill fell over her as she stared at it; she felt very, _very_ sad, but also incredibly afraid, and she didn’t know why. She had no clue why… She couldn't _remember_.

She thought back to what the voice had told her in the enclosure— or, was it a cavern? Some sort of shrine?— as she was preparing to leave; he had reassured her that she would remember and that she had been asleep for one hundred years. If she remembered correctly,— though, how could she?— one hundred years was a very long time; longer than her life span, that was for certain.

With a huff, she forced herself to stop thinking of these things. They were starting to hurt her brain, and she didn’t want to spend her first day outside with a headache. Instead, she took one last deep breath of fresh air— air that felt, smelt, and tasted much better than that of the cave she awoke in— and then turned back to the little natural trail that lay behind her. Glancing back one last time at the doorway she had exited through mere minutes before, she carried on down the path, a hesitant smile gracing her lips again.

On her way down the path, she ended up sidetracked when she spotted a small cluster of mushrooms; when she gathered them, she jumped slightly as they faded in a shimmer of blue light and then were absorbed by her orange slab as it let out a little chime. Looking down at it, she saw a little name and description pop up: apparently, these mushrooms were called Hylian Shrooms. She clicked away from the description with a small tilt of her head, examining the slab further. When she swiped down on the front part, she found that it was smooth, and then a dark blue screen slid down to replace the little section titled _Inventory_. It was comprised of several patches of the same empty blue, all outlined with thin light blue lines; it reminded her of water stains or paint on a palette, but she wasn’t sure how she even knew of these things.

Either way, that little blue slab was piquing her interest in a way that made her feel as though she had previously— if such a life had taken place— been very invested in the little thing.

She put the slab away after a little bit more poking around and continued down the trail, only straying to pluck some ripe apples from a tree, to attempt to climb said tree, and to pick up a large and sturdy branch from the ground. A stirring in her gut— instincts, she figured— told her that she might end up needing it in the near future, so she slung it across her back and carried on down the path.Eventually, she happened upon a shallow cave on the side of the path; inside, there was an old man sitting by a fire, his face hidden under a large beard and a heavy cowl. There was also a bunch of apples strewn on the ground near him, and a torch leaning on the far edge of the outcrop. The old man hadn’t noticed her yet, but something screamed at her to talk to him; some old voice that recognized him as something more than just an old man at the side of the road. And so, clearing her throat, she tried to speak.

“Is there space by your fire for a second person?” she asked with a voice that was gravelly from misuse, approaching him cautiously, “Or should I take my leave?”

The old man lifted his head when he heard her voice, only to stare at her for a long while, completely silent. He held her gaze for so long that she felt as though she had made a mistake in speaking to him, and so she decided not to stay;  
“I… Ah. I’m sorry. If you’d rather me not join you I can leave,” she murmured, backing up. The old man seemed to snap out of whatever sort of daze he had been in with those words, shaking his head and holding out a hand as if he was telling her to wait.

“Pardon my hesitation, my dear. It’s just rather odd, seeing another soul in these parts, so I was quite surprised. Go on, take a seat if you wish,” he invited her warmly, gesturing to the fire, “It’s very easy to let the hours pass you by as you sit by a warm flame. Help yourself to one of my baked apples too, if you’d like; an apple and an open flame make for a delightful treat.”

She did just that, picking up one of the warm apples and letting it be absorbed into her slab with another flash of blue light and a chime. Then, she took a seat across from the old man, staring at the flame for a moment. She was curious, though; she wanted to know who this man was, and why her brain was screaming at her in such a way about him.

“So… Who are you, then? What’s your story?” she asked him, looking up, “After all, you make it seem as though you’re the only one living here.”

The old man let out a hearty chuckle at her words, allowing a stream of light to shine through the cover of his hood and reveal his eyes to her.

“Me? I’ll spare you the life story,” he said to her with an almost sad tone, “I’m just an old fool who has lived here, alone, for quite some time now.”

When he finished speaking, the sun seemed to draw away from him on command, and his face was shadowed over once again.

She frowned slightly at how he spoke of himself, knowing somewhere deep inside of her that there was more to his story than he implied, but decided not to comment. The man piped up again, drawing her attention away from her thoughts.

“Now, what’s a bright-eyed young woman like you doing in a place like this?”

That was a good question, actually; what _was_ she doing? Where even was _this?_ She voiced the second question aloud, asking,

“I can’t quite say… I don’t even know what this place is, to be perfectly honest. Where are we?”

The old man hummed in understanding, nodding solemnly.  
“We are on the Great Plateau, my dear; according to legend, this is the birthplace of the entire kingdom of Hyrule. It is a place isolated from everywhere else in the land of Hyrule,” he answered her, “This entire area is elevated above everything else, and is surrounded by great walls that act as a barrier. It is difficult to get in, and is even harder to leave.

“You see that building, over there? It is said to have been host to countless sacred ceremonies, but since the decline of the kingdom one hundred years ago, it has sat in disuse, abandoned and left to ruin,” he continued with a sad sigh, “Yet another forgotten entity, I suppose. But enough on that.”

She didn’t quite like the sound of that; how was she supposed to live a good life if she was trapped in a caged land? She shivered, the warmth of the fire suddenly not sufficient in keeping her warm. Then, she went to stand up, feeling too restless to stay put.

“Pardon the abruptness, but I think I’ll be on my way now,” she told the old man, walking over to the torch, “Thank you for your hospitality, and… Well, may I take this?”  
The old man just smiled knowingly, nodding.  
“What will you be using it for, my dear?” He asked her as she picked it up and let it dissolve into her slab. She smiled back at him, nodding to his flame.

“Well, to set things on fire, of course!”

And with that, she set off down the path once again.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hi i hate writing dialogue!! can you tell?  
> ao3's formatting is also... not the best when paired with my writing style, but what can you do, right?  
> anyway, the old man has been met! that's where that classic twist of irony came in; situational irony, right? is that what it's called? my english teacher would be so disappointed in me—  
> i also wanted to establish the fact that no, zelda will not be incredibly emotionally present or brave in the first little bit of this, as i'm basing it off of my experience playing and ngl i was a coward at first,,  
> but she'll become feral as time goes on... or, really, the transition might be pretty quick idk how characterization works shdbjfhsdj  
> also, here's a thing that i did by accident at first but is now 100% on purpose— when you're reading, pay close attention to how zelda talks when she's nervous: stuff like meeting new people or asking something she feels might upset someone!  
> okay, that's all for now lol see you guys next week!


	3. The Temple of Time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which a presence is not welcomed

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hey! i'm updating from my phone today, so that's wild!
> 
> so this chapter. it's a bit of a filler i guess? not really, though, because it establishes an extremely important part of zelda's personality (at least in my opinion) so i think it was worth the few thousand words lmoa
> 
> anyway! i won't keep you, so see you at the end of the chapter!

**THE ATTACK CAME** out of nowhere, shocking her and leaving her on edge. She had seen the creature from afar; its hunched posture had stirred something previously dormant in her mind, and its squashed, pig-like face had tricked her into thinking it was friendly. However, when it pulled a club out at her, swinging wildly, she yelped and jumped to one side. She narrowly avoided each attempt on her life, pulling out her stick and swinging with all her might to retaliate. It squealed in anger when she did, but it also faltered in its movements, so she kept at it. She jumped and swung wildly, ignoring the growing ache in her shoulders as she did; then, after three or four more hits, its body blackened and it disappeared with one final pained squeal and a puff of purple smoke.

Shocked, she stared down at a pile that consisted of some macabre spoils of war and its weapon. After a moment of hesitation, she crouched down and collected everything. The slate chimed thrice, telling her that she had picked up a bokoblin fang, a bokoblin horn, and a boko club. Then, she carried on her way to… wherever she was headed, trying hard not to think about the fact that she had just killed a living being. She asked herself how it had come to this as she walked, though she already knew the answer to that question.

After she had left the old man behind in his cave, she had felt a tug in her fingers, urging her to pick up the slab and pull out the screen with the blue blobs. There, on the higher end of a blob with an arrow marking her location, was a shining yellow point; a marker of sorts, or maybe a waypoint. She had swiped the smooth surface of the device up and to the left, and there she saw an instruction telling her to seek out that point on her “map”. And so, without hesitation, she had started on the long trek to make it to that little glowing mark.

That, of course, all led her to where she was now; as she left behind the first creature— bokoblin, she supposed— she kept her branch in hand in case more were waiting further down the path she was following. Though, technically speaking, it wasn’t a true path; it was clear that no one had lived on the Great Plateau for a long, _long_ time, if at all. It was a beautiful place, but also seemed to be in ruin. She wondered absently if everywhere was like here.

She was soon snapped out of her reverie as she came across another one of those pesky orange monsters, and her paranoia proved useful as she instinctively lashed out at it before it could even think to hit her. It fell back with a squeal, but as she busied herself with dealing with this bokoblin, she neglected to check her surroundings; a sharp pain on her back caused her to cry out as a second bokoblin landed a solid hit with another club. Scrambling to find her footing, she threw her branch— which looked worse for wear— at the first of the two monsters, and it shattered against the thing with a flash of blue, killing it. Then, gasping for breath, she summoned the club she had acquired earlier and lashed out furiously at the other bokoblin, driving a blow directly into its skull.

A couple of hard hits later, all that was left of her assailants was a pile of parts, a club, a long stick that her slab claimed was a “boko spear,” and her aching back. With a short breath through her nose, she poked her back tenderly, wincing as she felt the area; it was going to bruise rather badly if her suspicions proved correct. She didn’t have time to stand around and wait, though; there were likely more where those things came from, and she didn’t want to be caught up in another throe of battle. So, swallowing any fear or pain she felt, she continued in the general direction of the blinking point in her map.

However, a strange tingling at the base of her lungs caused her to look to her left before she could continue much further. She felt her breath escape her as she stared up in awe at the ruins of a place she could tell was once a prosperous and sacred space. The broken-down building was still beautiful, she decided, but was likely once a spectacular sight. She felt an urge to move forward as she got closer, and so with little thought, she marched up a set of stairs to reach the entrance of the decrepit building.

As she looked around her, she saw a bunch of old husks lying in a state of ruin scattered about. Some were completely stuck into the ground, but some looked as though they could crawl out at any given moment, tendril-like limbs reaching out of their earthly resting places to pull them up. They were cylindrical, reaching just above her head, and had carvings etched into the material they were made of. As she stared at them, a word surfaced in her mind: _guardians_.

Some sort of heavy impulse within her incited her to search the bases of these husks,— these _guardians_ — and after a short time spent rooting about, she found two little trinkets; her slab chimed and told her that she was holding a pair of ancient screws. After she let the things dissolve in yet another flash of blue light, she moved on towards the giant building. Scanning the area with narrowed eyes, she pulled out her club as she spotted two bokoblins— one up close and one rather far away— and crouched down, sneaking as close as she could to the first one without it spotting her.

Judging by the loud cry it let out as it ran in her direction at mach speed, she failed on that part. With an exasperated huff out of her nose, she popped out of her pitiful hiding place and swung her arm in a wide arc. Once that was done, she collected the spoils of her battle (and discovered that she couldn’t fit any more weapons in her slab, which was unfortunate) and ran full speed at the next one, bludgeoning it to a pulp as it faded in a puff of purple smoke and a squeal.

By then, she found herself at the entrance to a large building. Her slab chimed, making her unhook it from her trousers and check its screen. It was glowing blue, telling her that the place she was about to enter was called the Temple of Time. She supposed the name would have been more fitting one hundred years ago— or maybe even longer than that— when the Temple was in its prime, but now it just seemed… Desolate. The place gave off an empty feeling of sadness; it was desecrated by the very thing it was named after.

With an awe-filled smile, she slowly stepped past the door to the Temple of Time, looking at a place that was once full of life. She smiled sadly, looking at the moss-covered stone walls; ivy wound its way into the smallest of cracks in the brickwork, making it look as if it were on the verge of crumbling. The ceiling was partially missing, so sunlight streaked into the chamber in a way that almost caused the statue at the very back of the Temple to glow…

…

No, it didn’t just _seem_ to glow; rather, it _was_ glowing. It was only there for a moment, but she could clearly see a scintillating beam of light rising _up_ from the altar at the base of the statue in the fraction of a second it was visible. Was that… Some sort of sign? A summons of sorts? She figured that such a large statue in such a sacred place implied some sort of divine significance, and so she approached the statue with quiet reverence, tilting her head back to take in all of the details etched into the sculpture. Then, when she got to the altar, she took a deep breath and closed her eyes.

Soon, a voice spoke to her. A different voice from before; one that left a bitter taste in her mouth and that wrenched the air straight from her lungs in a vice-like grip. A strange feeling of stifling warmth rushed into her ears, making her head spin and her knees want to buckle under her. The world grew white around her as the presence of the voice consumed all else.

“My dear child, it has been far too long. I did not plan for things to become as they have… And for that, I am sorry,” the voice began, dulcet tones feeling like prickly needles on her skin, “I cannot begin to make amends for My mistakes, so instead I will aid you in your journey. If you bring Me four spirit orbs, I can make your health and physical strength grow immensely. I have faith that you can do it, My child. Now go, bring peace to Hyrule.”

With that, the temple grew silent again. She shivered, suddenly not liking the ancient place as much; it was too quiet. Much too quiet. Her heart was beating out of her chest, and it clenched, making her curl into herself and cup her elbows with her hands in an attempt to stop that feeling. It grew despite her efforts, leaving her short of breath and with hazy vision. She choked down a sob, refusing to allow her emotions to get the better of her; she had to focus on leaving and going to the destination that she had marked on her map. Maybe then…

Maybe then, she’d be able to find a way out.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> this week's been rough for me, gosh... i completely lost inspiration and didn't write for an entire two days which.. isn't great for me.
> 
> luckily, i had a lot of wiggle room! and i wrote some tonight, so hopefully that will make up for it ehe
> 
> i've been kinda swamped with schoolwork, work work and volunteer work though, not gonna lie, so i might not be able to write as frequently as i'd like? hopefully it won't catch up to me, though!
> 
> see you guys next week!!


	4. The Tower

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which she is opened to a world far smaller than she realized.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> uh oh!! i missed my update day,, and also ... have kinda burned out with writing...? so uh. i'm not doing too great, but... my semester's been kicking my ass, and my school board's been going on strike every week so i keep getting super stressed?? but i'll keep writing for you guys!!
> 
> either way, this is the beginning of the end of the great plateau arc- two more chapters spent here after this, then she's gone to dueling peaks! i'm v excited for you guys to see!!

**BY THE TIME** she reached the point marked on the glowing orange slab, she was panting and exhausted beyond belief. The sun was starting to set in the sky, and her entire body felt heavy from how much she had exerted herself throughout the day. She had come across several unfriendly creatures on her trek north, including an entire camp of bokoblins and several blue globular creatures that jumped out at her from the grass; her slab identified them as chuchus once she picked up the strange jelly they left behind. She winced, looking down at an arrow that was lodged into her leg; she had had an unfortunate encounter with a couple of bow-wielding bokoblins, but at the very least now she had two crudely-made bows and a small handful of poorly-fletched arrows. It was better than nothing, she supposed.

She checked her Slate for any sort of healing function or instructions on dealing with arrows to the leg, but found nothing; instead, all she saw was a little dollop labelled “korok seed” that reminded her of an incident from earlier that day. She had just left the temple of time when she saw a sword in a stone surrounded by a pond, and in her curiosity, she had ended up jumping right into a perfect circle of lily pads. She remembered hearing a little burst as a tiny being popped into sight, flying thanks to a quickly rotating fan;  _ Korok _ , a tiny piece of her brain supplied, and so she decided to trust it.

“Ya-ha-ha! You found me!” they cried, before pausing and staring at her as if  _ she _ was the strange one, “Huh? You’re not Hestu! But… you can see me? I didn’t know your kind could see the children of the forest!

“Well, if you run into Hestu, please return this to him.”

Then, the little thing had dropped the golden… seed? into her palm, giggling happily.

“Oh, and my friends are hiding in lots of different places too!” they exclaimed to her with a happy lilt to their voice, “Don’t be shy about poking your nose into suspicious places!”

It had been… Odd, to say the least, and so she had decided to file that interaction away and deal with any shock and/or happy emotions that it brought along later; she had proceeded to pull a rusty sword out of the stone it rested in and called it a day.

It was strange, yes, and probably magic, too, but it wouldn’t help her with her arrow-in-leg predicament. And so, heaving a long sigh, she reached for the arrow and went to yank it out of her thigh; before she could even think to touch it, though, it shattered into tiny pieces of light, leaving nothing but a small hole in her leg where it had landed. Confused, she poked at the hole— which was starting to slowly trickle blood down her leg— and found that it still hurt, but that it was healing incredibly quickly. Choosing to not look a gift-horse in the mouth, she shrugged and hiked her bow up on her back before trudging up to the spot marked on her slab.

After a small search— which may have involved unneeded climbing and some mild to heavy cursing— she managed to locate a pedestal under an overhanging rock formation. It was similar to that which she had seen back in the enclosure at the start of her first day. That day was still dragging on, but to her it seemed like a very long time ago; like a whole other life, in a sense.

She felt a strong tug in her fingers as she approached the pedestal, giving her the urge to draw even closer and inspect its surface closely. Something about those pedestals gave her a strange feeling in her chest; it felt as though it was being stretched too far away and then locked up. It was  _ yearning _ , something in her mind told her, but she wasn’t sure where it was. She gazed upon it for a moment before pulling out her orange glowing slab, and then a tinny voice piped up from a direction she couldn’t find.

“Place the Sheikah Slate in the pedestal,” it said, and she frowned for a moment before letting out a cry of  _ ‘oh!’ _ She finally had a name for the strange orange slab: It was a Sheikah Slate. Something about that name sounded right; that same strange part of her was nodding in agreement with the distant voice. And so, with no hesitation, she gently set the Slate down in a little rectangular niche on the pedestal.

The device let out a series of clicks and a whirr, screen flashing orange as she stepped back cautiously. Then, it went back to blue, and the voice spoke again.   
“Sheikah Tower activated,” it told her, “Please watch for falling rocks.”

She wasn’t sure what the little device quite meant at first; however, she quickly gathered what it meant as the entire world began to shake and crumble beneath her. A great boom sounded out around her as the ground began to rise up, lifting her along with it. She was thrown to the floor of the platform she was on— which she noticed in passing was circular— as everything came crashing down around her, and she worried briefly for her own life. She shrieked, glancing wildly around her and noticing several other places glowing orange and rising high above the ground. There was nothing she could do, she finally decided, other than wait for the entire ordeal to be finished; and by that, she wasn’t sure if she meant death or for the platform— no, tower— to stop rising.

Finally, after many agonizing minutes that felt like hours, the ground stopped shaking and the tower stopped its ascent. She stood up carefully, glancing over at her Slate and reading the words it displayed: Great Plateau Tower. Then, the voice from before rang out again, this time feeling much closer.

“Distilling local information…” It said, and a high pitched tune began playing as a large tapered stone began glowing bright blue with runes. A little droplet of blue liquid formed at the thin tip of the thing, glowing with the same hue as the enclosure she had awoken in not too long ago.

As the music reached its highest note, the drop fell from the stone and landed on the Slate, splashing all about and making a loud noise as it sunk into the screen of the device. She leaned over the slate as an eye symbol flashed on the screen, watching in awe as a detailed map filled out the section of the map that she was in. She could tell that it was a topographical map,— though how she knew that term in the first place escaped her— showing all sorts of ridges and peaks and valleys; it was a bit of a relief, if she was to be honest with herself, as she wasn’t a fan of not knowing where she was going before she got there.

Distantly, she heard that same voice tell her, “Regional map extracted.” Then, as it had done in the enclosure, the pedestal spun and let out a series of clicks as it popped the Slate out of its niche to present back up to her. She took it, taking a second long look at her map before putting it away. Just then, a different voice spoke to her; the same voice that had spoken when she was about to take her first steps into the fresh air of the Great Plateau.

_ … ey! H… … n you h… -da? Are you there? Try to remember yourself! You’ve been asleep for the past one hundred years, _ he called out to her as the ground began to shake again. She let out a soft noise of exclamation, turning to look at the castle as dark wisps of smoke— or maybe something else?— began forming in a ring around it. _ The beast—! When— no,  _ if _ — it regains its true power… That day would bear witness to the beginning of the end o- …e world. _

As the voice spoke, she squinted and gazed closely at the dark whorls of smoke; within them, she found a gaping maw and two shiny golden eyes. They stared her down, piercing through her gaze and straight into her skull. She shivered.

_ No- … hen… You m… -urry … el…! Bef… -oo late!  _ The voice cried out, but it was futile. 

After all, she couldn’t even tell what he was trying to say.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm really bad at making dialogue fizzle out— gosh it was a struggle to do that part.. i hope it turned out all right!
> 
> so... i'm very tired. how did i do? i think i did all right, but in the end it's up to you guys!!
> 
> next week will have... a very long chapter, to say the least. it's part of the reason why this fic became the monster it's shaping up to be... ah, well, you'll see! i'm v tired, i think i'm getting sick... so i'm gonna try and rest up!! see you guys next week!


	5. Shrines

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> in which she's given an offer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AHA. so.  
> i forgot i was writing this,,,  
> honestly, it's partly forgetting and partly because,,, i uh,, lost interest in botw...? for a bit there?? but my mother started playing botw and then i remembered that, oh yeah, that's a thing! so... here i am now, posting like, a month and a bit late. i'm sorry you guys, i'm just really bad at staying motivated with things...

One restless night’s sleep and several agonizing minutes of parkour later, she dropped from the last of a set of conveniently placed platforms with a loud sigh of relief. That sigh soon turned into a yelp, though; as soon as her feet hit the ground, a loud “HO!” resounded through the air, and she glanced about wildly to try and find the source. It didn’t take long— as soon as she looked up, she saw the old man that she had spoken to earlier in the day gliding from high above to meet her.

“My, my…” he spoke with an elusive smile, “It seems we have quite the enigma here. Mere minutes ago, this tower and many others just like it erupted across the land. It’s almost as if...”

He paused for a moment, glancing down to look at her.   
“It’s almost as if some long-dormant power has suddenly awoken. However,” he continued, his one exposed eye darting between her Slate and her face, “That leads me to wonder: did anything strange occur while you were atop that tower?”

She regarded the man with growing suspicion, nodding slowly.   
“Yes, I… Uh, I heard a voice, I think. The voice of a boy my age,” she replied, wringing her hands awkwardly, “I’ve heard him twice, now, and both times he sounded familiar, but I just couldn’t place him.”

The old man nodded pensively at what she told him, humming and muttering words under his breath. Then, he turned to point at the castle with his staff; the lantern swung noisily, making her wonder how she hadn’t noticed it before.

“I’m assuming that you caught sight of that atrocity enshrouding the castle, no?” He questioned her. She nodded, a frown crossing her face as she turned to gaze at it alongside him.

“Of course I did— but, well, how could someone miss it? They’d have to be blind,” she replied, wrapping her arms around herself as she felt a shiver crawl up her spine, “But what even  _ is _ that thing?”

The old man sighed, watching the miasma surrounding the castle swirl in loops, a set of fanged jaws gnashing the air with enough force to break bones; it was a merciless creature, anyone could see that. Then, he turned to answer her with a grim expression painting his jaded features.

“That… is Calamity Ganon. It was because of that beast that the kingdom of Hyrule was brought to ruin one century ago,” he explained solemnly, “It came out of the blue, malicious and vile; it destroyed everything in its path, causing countless innocent lives to be lost forever.

“For one hundred years, now, the very symbol of this kingdom, Hyrule Castle, has managed to contain it… But even then, just barely,” he continued, trailing off for a moment as Calamity Ganon bore its maw to the open sky, “There it has festered over the years, growing in power as it waited for the very first opportunity to break free and bear its curse— its blight— upon the land. And, well, by the looks of things, that moment is fast approaching, my dear.”

The breath escaped her lungs once again as he spoke, and many thoughts spiraled through her head; for whatever reason, she wanted to save this kingdom from further ruin, but she didn’t understand why that was. Why did she want to aid a kingdom to which she held no obligation?

“That’s awful,” she voiced breathlessly to the old man, “How long would you say we even have left?”

The old man shrugged as he turned to face her once more.   
“I’m not too sure, my dear,” he told her, “It could be anywhere from three months to a year from now; not too long, compared to one hundred years. But I must ask: Are you planning to go to the castle?”

Her eyes widened at his question, and her thoughts ran wild.  _ Did _ she want to go to the castle? If so, why? Why did she even consider the thought of her fighting the Calamity? It wasn’t a new thought, that she could tell, but if so, then where was it coming from? Why was she having it?

Despite herself, her mouth was already moving.   
  
“Yes, I do. The thought itself scares me,” she said with a shaky voice, “But I truly do wish to go. I don’t… I don’t even know why.”

The old man smiled sadly, then, as though he had expected that answer despite having asked; perhaps, in his eyes, this was just a confirmation of a hard truth.

“It’s as I thought, then. You truly are a courageous one, are you not? But, my dear, as I mentioned yesterday, leaving this plateau is no easy task,” he began explaining, turning to look at the edge of the landmass, “There is a sheer drop surrounding this isolated plateau; to try and jump now would only be of use make certain your own death. However, if you had a paraglider such as my own, perhaps that drop would become manageable.”

She snapped her head up as he uttered the word “paraglider,” her eyes rapidly focusing on the sail he had used to float down so gently towards her earlier. A feeling of want— of  _ need _ — filled her as she stared at the little thing; she  _ needed _ it, effective immediately.

“Ah… Yes, about that— Would I be able to, ah, please have that?” she asked him as politely as she could bear, already reaching out a hand to touch it, “I’d very much appreciate it, truly.”

With a hearty chuckle, the old man held the paraglider out of her reach and shook his head.

“I’m afraid I cannot go and give this precious item away to just any young woman, my dear! It’s far too valuable, would you not say?” he asked her with an almost sheepish smile, “But I would be willing to trade it for, say, some sort of treasure residing here. Nothing known by myself or any living being in all of Hyrule, but undoubtedly treasure.

She drooped slightly at his words, disappointed that she couldn’t get the paraglider as soon as she’d hoped, but then huffed and followed the old man as he began walking over the crest of a small hill. There, on the other side, was something familiar and yet incredibly unknown; a rounded and oddly-shaped structure glowed with orange markings similar to those on her own Slab. Perhaps…?

“You see that shrine over there? The one that shines with a strange orange light,” the old man pointed out with both words and a gesture of his cane, “At the moment those towers rose from the ground, this one and many others across Hyrule began glowing with that mysterious light. I have a feeling that that Slate on your hip will become of use to you in entering those shrines.

“If that is the case, then I would very much like to know what resides within. Would you not wish to know as well?”

Yes, she found herself agreeing, she  _ would _ like to know. She would like to know very much.

“It could be treasure, ancient knowledge, or something else… But regardless of what it is, I do believe it would be a fair trade for this paraglider,” the old man continued, “Wouldn’t you agree?”

The old man had a point. With a sigh, she nodded and set out to reach the shrine. It took her ten, maybe fifteen minutes, as there was a river in her way, but she made it just fine. There was also a bokoblin camp that she decided very quickly to avoid rather than to confront; the beasts were jumping around a fire, shrieking and grunting at nothing. Perhaps that was just how they had fun.

The shrine itself was mostly surrounded by a clear pool of water, and scattered around it were heavy metal boxes and a large metal boulder. She tried to push one of the boxes, but to no avail; the thing was just too heavy. So, turning to face the shrine, she deliberated how she’d even get in. For a moment, she panicked as she saw that the thing was sealed shut with interlocking horizontal bars, but closer inspection had her feeling a little foolish; there was another pedestal in plain view for her to go up to and tap with her Slate.

In doing just that, the mouth of the shrine opened for her and she stepped onto a platform; as such, she found herself descending into the shrine. When she reached the bottom, she stepped out of a pillar of light and heard a voice resounding around her. It was deep and ancient, flowing over with age and wisdom; she shuddered as it washed over her.

_ To you who sets foot in this shrine... I am Oman Au. In the name of the Goddess Hylia, I offer this trial. _

The room she was in seemed almost unsettling from how perfect it was, but rather than focus on that she took in her surroundings. She spotted a set of heavy metal slabs on the ground in front of her; when she tried to lift them manually, she found them to be impossibly heavy. She also spied a contraption similar to that on the top of the Tower. She ran up to the thing, finding a niche to slip her Slate into and doing just that.

Just like how it had on the tower, the stone began playing a little tune as a droplet loaded with information formed at the tip of the stone. When it dropped, though, it opened a different page titled “runes,” showing her that she now had a rune called Magnesis; apparently, she could manipulate metal objects using her slate now.

Turning to look at the metal doors on the floor to her right, she was struck with an idea; she opened the runes page and clicked the Magnesis icon, shooting an intangible tether at one of the heavy slabs. The thing glowed bright yellow, moving with ease as she gestured with the Slate, and before long she was dropping through an opening in the floor into a pool of water. She heaved herself up onto a ledge after she regained her bearings, following it down a low-ceilinged corridor leading to a stairway. Just beyond that, she found a wall of stone cubes with a single metal block tucked into the middle; she sent the entire structure tumbling over by yanking it out. Then, she heard a sound that was both incredibly foreign and frighteningly familiar.

Just beyond all the cubes was a smaller version of the machines—  _ guardians _ — she had seen by the Temple of Time. It was glowing a bright red, whirring and clicking as it charged its eye with a flashing blue light— then it fired a single shot at her, making contact with bruising force and singing part of her blouse. She winced, glancing down at her arm; she would need to find some sort of burn salve later. For the time being, though, she turned her focus back to the mini guardian. It let out a beep as she charged at it, flying back with the force of her blows using a boko club. The club shattered after two hits, flinging shards of blue in all directions and causing the little guardian to explode in a flash of red light and smoke. She coughed, holding a sleeve up to her face as the smoke got into her lungs, and then collected the few spoils it left behind— ancient screws and springs.

There were only two more gaps and a set of metal doors she had to make it past before reaching a box of blue light. Inside the cage of light was an ancient being, shriveled from sheer age; she couldn’t tell what they would’ve looked like in their youth, but she had an inkling that they were once called Oman Au. She stepped up to a small platform resting before the husk, bringing up a hand to touch a familiar crying eye that marked the surface of the blue light; in doing this, she shattered the barrier, causing the meditating being’s mind to stir for the first time in a very long while.

_ You have proven to possess the resolve of a true hero. I am Oman Au, the creator of this shrine, _ they began to explain,  _ I am a humble monk, blessed with the sight of Goddess Hylia and dedicated to those who seek to defeat Ganon. With your arrival, my duty is now fulfilled. In the name of Goddess Hylia, allow me to bestow this gift upon you… Please accept this Spirit Orb. _

As she watched a purple ball of pure energy and light exit the body of Oman Au, she felt her jaw drop in awe. It was a beautiful yet sad sight; Oman Au was rewarding her with their spirit, giving her a priceless gift to defeat Calamity Ganon in exchange for their own life. When it struck her own chest, she stumbled back as a surge of warmth flowed through her body. The Spirit Orb soothed all of her aches, and when she looked down at her arm she found the burn that she had obtained from the guardian’s shot had disappeared, leaving not even the slightest trace of a scar.

The monk’s voice was fading by time he spoke again, simply telling her,  _ May the Goddess smile upon you _ . Then, before her very eyes, Oman Au faded into nothing, leaving her alone. She was filled with melancholy, but it was soon replaced by intense vertigo as she was forcefully removed from the shrine, rematerializing at the entrance. With a funny feeling in her chest and stomach, she stepped down from it. Before she could get any further, though, she heard an increasingly familiar cry of “Ho!” as the old man from before paraglided down to meet her.

“Congratulations, my dear! It seems you have managed to get your hands on a Spirit Orb,” the old man observed, making her pause in her steps. How did he even…

“How did you know?”

“Clairvoyance!” the man cried, and she couldn’t tell if he was joking or not, “Or, at the very least, something similar to that.

“As one ages, it can become more difficult to see what lies before your own eyes,” he explained to her, “But that which is hidden becomes all the more easy to perceive.”

“I see…” she replied, unsure of how to react. The old man laughed a hearty laugh, shifting his weight back onto his heels.   
“Perhaps that is not the case for everyone! Only time will tell for you, my dear. Though, on a different topic…” he trailed off, glancing off to the Tower, “The appearance of the towers around Hyrule and the awakening of these shrines— They’re all connected to the Sheikah Slate you keep on your hip.”

She blinked owlishly at him, glancing down at the Slate and then back at the old man.   
“What do you mean by that?” she asked him incredulously, unhooking it from her hip to stare at its glowing blue screen.

“It has been far too long since I have seen that Sheikah Slate… You see, in an age now passed these lands were inhabited by a tribe known as the Sheikah. They were highly advanced, living lives in a time different than that of everyone else,” he explained to her, turning to point to the shrine behind her, “Their wisdom saved this very kingdom countless times, but their ancient technology was lost to the ages; or so it was said. It is interesting, however, that this shrine managed to preserve something long enough to now find you.

“These shrines can be found in the most peculiar of places all throughout the land, waiting to be discovered. As a matter of fact, I believe you can find three more on the Great Plateau alone! So, let’s extend our deal a little longer: Bring me treasure from those three shrines as well and I will gladly hand over my paraglider.”

She huffed, glancing over her shoulder at Oman Au’s shrine; this one was a whole ordeal to get past, and she wasn’t looking forward to going through three more. Despite herself, though, she swallowed down the bitter annoyance she felt and nodded affirmatively.

“Fine, I’ll do it— though you’re not leaving me much of a choice, are you? I need the paraglider to leave, and I also just want it, but I’m really not looking forward to this,” she griped, turning back to the old man, “Do you even know where the others are?”

The old man chuckled at her bitterness, not seeming the least bit phased by it.

“No, however I  _ am _ willing to give you a bit of free advice,” he replied, “And though free advice is not always good advice, I assure you that this is worth hearing.”

He turned his back to her, taking a couple steps forward and pointing to the tower with his cane; she followed with her gaze, not understanding.

“You can use your Slate for many things, if what I have been told was in fact the truth. For instance, I am near certain that by touching the respective icons on your map, you can instantaneously travel from wherever you may be to any activated towers or shrines,” he spoke, voice clear despite the wind, “Furthermore, you can use your Slate as a scope to zoom in on areas far in the distance… And, I believe, you can also pin specific areas that will show up on your map if you so please.”

The old man’s words piqued her interest; she felt as if she had heard those words before, and that back then they had excited her almost as much as they excited her now. As the man spoke, she found herself slowly smiling as she imagined how the Sheikah must have created such formidable technology; she was in awe at the concept, and she wanted to know  _ more _ . It filled her with a flurry of emotions, but she knew that she couldn’t get lost in these marvels just yet— she had three shrine trials to pass. She could do all of this later, when she had the paraglider and was out of the Great Plateau.

When the old man finished his explanation, she wasted no time in pulling up the map on her Sheikah Slate; she allowed the blue glow to wash over her, dissolving her entire being and making her feel light with happiness.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i'm so sorry you guys,, i'll keep writing tonight and see how many chapters i can make in the next few weeks,,, it's not like i have any sort of school or online learning to use during this time!!
> 
> ... haha. we love having a disorganized government that won't even authorize online learning to its students


	6. ight so.   i can explain

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> i hate when people stop writing their current work to rewrite it, and on an unrelated note i've been known to be a massive hypocrite.

so!! i was reading over this story yesterday in my drafts and i felt really really bad because honestly, there's a lot of useless words mixed in this story and i'm honestly not proud of this work. as such, i'm going to try to re-write everything! this time, though, i'm gonna give myself a chapter limit and a tentative word limit so that i don't go insane and write 10k words in one chapter that barely even taps in to the plot. i'm also gonna try to actually finish that before i start posting it, and when i do it'll probably be updated once a day until i have each chapter out.

well, until then! i'll update this with a link to the re-write ~~if~~ when i get it out


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